After a disappointing performance in the league against West Brom at the Hawthorns, the Gunners bounced back with a convincing 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb, to keep their Champions League hopes alive. Barcelona after a historic El Clasico victory on the weekend, put in another attacking masterclass, as the Catalans annihilated AS Roma 6-1 at Camp Nou.
The home side took the lead at the half hour mark when Alexis Sanchez’ cross was buried into the back of the net by in-form German, Mesut Ozil. It would be unfair to Olivier Giroud if his contribution in the first goal goes unnoticed as his daunting run into the box attracted a centre half which meant that Mesut Ozil could find that little pocket of space for free header.
Arsene Wenger’s men doubled their lead just four minutes after the opener, when Cazorla’s surging pass to Alexis Sanchez was intercepted by Leonardo Sigali but the Argentinian was too slow in clearing his lines of which Nacho Monreal took advantage and ran with the ball into the box and left Alexis Sanchez with a tap in. The North London side scored another goal past Eduardo as Joel Campbell’s spectacular pass from the right wing cut through everyone, into the path of the Chilean winger, Alexis Sanchez who went around the goalkeeper to score and bag three points.
Elsewhere in the group, 10-man Bayern Munich thrashed Greek champions Olympiakos 4-0 to win the group with 12 points to their credit. It leaves one spot open for Olympiakos and Arsenal who have 9 and 6 points to their name respectively.
Barcelona ran riot against in Roma as the Catalans thumped the visitors 6-1 at Camp Nou. After squandering a host of chances in the opening stages, Barcelona got the lead when Neymar’s defence-splitting pass saw Dani Alves clear on goal and the full-back unselfishly laid it off to Luis Suarez, who made no mistake in front of an empty goal. Messi, who returned to the starting eleven after a lengthy injury lay-off, finished off a sublime 27-pass move by dinking the ball over ‘keeper Szczesny to make it 2-0 in the 18th minute. Luis Suarez capped off a brilliant first-half display with a thunderous volley with the outside of his right boot to make it 3-0.
With the win almost in the bag, Gerard Pique ventured ahead and scored his side’s fourth, when he tapped in Messi’s pass from close range. Messi got his second of the evening, when he scored off the rebound after Szczesny saved his initial shot. Neymar, who terrorized the Roma defence for the entirety of the match, had the chance to get his name on the scoresheet, when he earned a penalty in the 77th minute. Although Neymar had his spot-kick saved, substitute Adriano ghosted in rifle the loose ball into the roof of the net to make it 6-0 for Luis Enrique’s men. Edin Dzeko also missed a late penalty but this time there was no one to pounce on the rebound, although the Bosnian headed home a consolation goal in the 90th minute.
Other Results –
Group E
BATE Borisov 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Group G
Maccabi Tel Aviv 0-4 Chelsea
FC Porto 0-2 Dynamo Kyiv
Group H
Zenit St Petersburg 2-0 Valencia
Olympique Lyon 1-2 KAA Gent
